For retired educator K.H. Seah, voting had always been a straightforward choice in favour of Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).
Lately, however, the 67-year-old finds himself mulling over his vote.
“I’m feeling the rising costs of everything. I’m in the middle class but I don’t feel its benefits,” said Seah, adding that the goods and services tax increase to 9 per cent earlier this year, along with rising certificate of entitlement prices for car ownership, had hit people like him hard.
With a hint of nostalgia, Seah said he missed the decisiveness of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, contrasting it with the current leadership’s more consultative approach.
Whether Seah’s sentiments reflect a dissatisfied minority among PAP supporters or indicate a growing trend will be revealed in the next general election, which must be called by November next year.
Not a single political force has emerged in Singapore to challenge the PAP
It will mark the 16th time that the party has sought a mandate from the island republic’s citizens since its uninterrupted rule of Singapore began in 1959. On Thursday, the PAP will celebrate its 70th anniversary, a milestone that may coincide with the handover of party leadership from current secretary general Lee Hsien Loong to Lawrence Wong, who took over as prime minister in May.
